U.S. Rep. John Rose, the Republican representing Tennessee’s Sixth Congressional District, announced Wednesday he supports declaring a national emergency to build a border wall.
U.S. Republican President Donald Trump declared the emergency.
In a press release, Rose said he voted to support Trump in fully funding a wall along the United States’ unsecured Southern border.
“I stand with the President’s decision to declare a national emergency to end the threats coming into our country through the open border,” the press release quoted Rose as saying.
“This decision is within the President’s lawful purview and past presidents freely exercised this authority.”
Rose went on to say the president alone has authority to declare a national emergency at his discretion.
There were 31 national emergencies in effect prior to Trump declaring a national emergency to address the crisis at our southern border. Of those still in effect, former Democratic President Barack Obama declared 10 of them, according to Rose’s press release.
“Sadly, Democrats have continued political stunts and recklessly neglected the crisis at our southern border. Democrats only now call foul on a president’s use of emergency declaration power, apparently putting their hostility toward President Trump above the needs of the American people,” Rose said.
“Every day the Democrats delay construction of the wall is another day American lives are at risk.”
Rose said in the press release that traffickers and violent criminals invade our southern border daily.
Trump, following national security officials’ recommendations, requested $5.7 billion to secure the Southern border. Democrats refused to meet the President’s funding requests, allocating only $1.3 billion, Rose said.
“I voted against the Democrats’ legislation that would terminate the President’s declaration and I call on Speaker Pelosi to stop political games,” Rose said.
“We must build the wall.”
As The Tennessee Star reported this month, U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee’s Fourth Congressional District also issued a statement supporting Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.
There, DesJarlais said in his own press release, international cartels smuggle drugs and human beings into the United States, and large numbers of foreign nationals illegally cross into the country.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Conservatives are do to luck out with one of these No Record Candidates eventually. Congressman Rose was obviously the centrist establishment’s choice to succeed Diane Black in the Sixth and after he received financial support from prominent Democratic bundlers he was my choice of No Record Candidate least likely to succeed as far as conservatives were concerned. I have to admit, however, he sure has been going out of his way to emphasize his conservative votes since taking office, I simply can’t wait until Heritage Action releases its first scorecard of the 116th Congress this spring so we can see whether or not Congressman Rose lived down to my worst expectations.